ABSTRACT

IN 1981 the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a report from the Council on Scientific Affairs entitled Health Care Needs of the Homosexual Population. A substantial number of studies involving gay men and lesbians have subsequently appeared in the medical literature that provide a better understanding of health issues related to sexual orientation and behavior. For this reason, the original recommendations were reviewed, including that of reversal of sexual orientation in selected cases.1

DEFINITION AND DEMOGRAPHICSIn this report, sexual orientation refers to an individual's self-perception as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual. Sexual behavior may or may not correlate with sexual orientation. Furthermore, an individual's sexual behavior and orientation may vary over time.The scientific literature indicates that homosexual feelings are more frequent than homosexual behavior and that same-sex behavior is more frequent than lasting homosexual identification.2-11 According to researchers from RAND,10(p145)

Purchase Options

Figures

Tables

References

Letters

The American Medical Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The AMA designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM per course. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with
the extent of their participation in the activity. Physicians who complete the CME course and score at least 80% correct on the quiz are eligible for AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.

Return to: Health Care Needs of Gay Men and Lesbians in the United States

This feature is provided as a courtesy. By using it you agree that that you are requesting the material solely for personal, non-commercial use, and that it is subject to the AMA's Terms of Use. The information provided in order to email this article will not be shared, sold, traded, exchanged, or rented. Please refer to The JAMA Network's Privacy Policy for additional information.

Athens and Shibboleth are access management services that provide single sign-on to protected resources. They replace the multiple user names and passwords necessary to access subscription-based content with a single user name and password that can be entered once per session. It operates independently of a user's location or IP address. If your institution uses Athens or Shibboleth authentication, please contact your site administrator to receive your user name and password.